retired_lapepe

Almost done with the 4th season so will update soon. This however is too insain to not post.

Seems like a young George Best got ressurected in Northern Ireland. Carick in the Premier Division was so lucky to get him up through their socalled academy. He played 24 matches for them (17 in the league), scored 6, assisted 7 and 1 MoM, with 6.96 AvR. In other words that already sounds like a real prospect, especially since the kid is barely 17. My shock wasn't small when I get a news message that "George Best" wasn't good enough to get a professional contract. WTF??? :eek:

Same day Celtic and Middlesboro come running after him with a truckload of money. I've tried to sign this lad the last season, but to no avail. Then they wanted about 20K IIRC, and now he's not good enough for a pro contract in NIR football. Apparently he was good enough for EPL and SPL football, suckers!

Have a peek at this Golden Boy.

This is the biggest talent I've seen come out of Northern Ireland, perhaps even the UK (lousy scouts so may not tell much). He will be a huge international player in 3-5 years, I'm sure.

[/rant]

retired_lapepe

I don't know if it because I started this game from 6.0.3 or that I'm in a horribly poor league, but my scouts seem to find a decent amount of quality players. Even found some regens floating around before they got snapped up, can hardly remember that happening before, so it's a nice change of pace :thup:

retired_crazybonejr

Umm...Player naming, no matter if it's a regen or not, isn't allowed!

creative36

Might I suggest that all he's done is given him an apt Nickname.

retired_lapepe

True turnip, gave him a safe nickname.

Anyway, the point is that the AI is pretty stupid to let quality players like that out on free. And I'm slightly impressed that my scouts have picked up players like this in the first place. This is the best one I've seen from Northern Ireland, but there are many mores. If this is a general picture valid for better-quality leagues too, then kudos to SI :thup:

creative36

I can only assume it's got something to do with their Potential Ability.

I've seen my former Naval team release a number of players for free who it's blindingly obvious are going to be gems in the future.

It doesn't bother me. Free is my favourite price.

creative36

Ugh, that should be 'Current Ability'.

retired_lapepe

Yes, that may be. Guess this is one more case where the AI should put more importance on performance instead of relying solely on CA/PA.

Free is my kinda price though :thup:
The guy ended up in Celtic btw, and is now worth £160,000.

retired_lapepe

Season 2008/09
Annagh Utd - Northern Irish Premier Division

The board wanted us to stay clear of relegation, the fans wanted safe-mid table. My hope was to fight for a European spot. Spend nothing on 12 players, mostly young-uns for the future, but some ended up playing quite a bit. During the season I sold 5 players for 53K, including my best DC for 50K to Linfield in January.

Linfield won the first 8, but we eventually caught up to them. Had a really close fight to the end-season when we totally choked. Had 9 points down to Glentoran on 3rd with 5 games to go. On the last day we were even. With 20 mins to go Glentoran were up 3-1, we had 1-1 after leading before conceding a penalty and red card to the goalie. First red card in the league of the season. Perfect timing... We ended up losing 4-1, and got 3rd in the league. Linfield won by 6 points.

The cups were a different story. After some luck here and there we ended up in the final of both the League Cup and Irish Cup. Beat Linfield 1-0 in an even League Cup final for our first decent trophy. The kids got us to the final in the Irish Cup after lucky draws and a penalty shootout. A very exciting final ended 1-1 against Linfield after 90 mins, we were more or less outplayed. Litteraly 30 seconds left on the clock before penalty, we counter on the right-hand side, get the ball into the box, striker one-on-one.... GOAL!! \o/

For some strange reason we also got involved in the All-Ireland Cup. Luckily beat Shelbourne 3-2 home and drew Bohemians 1-1 away, which in the end got us to the final. The lads were not themselves in the final, and despite deserving to win, we lost 1-0. This was however great economically as we got 130K just for entering the tournament, and 85K for the loss in the final. After good cup-runs and a big sale, this meant we went from 280K in the red to 100K on the plus-side. And to top it off Annagh Utd will play the EURO Cup next season. Should get the finances in order I hope.

League: 3rd P30 W18 D4 L8 53-35 P58
All-Ireland Cup: Final
Irish Cup: Winners :cool:
League Cup: Winners :cool:

All in all a great season, but had hoped for 2nd in the league. Next season's goal is to get 2nd. As we won the Irish Cup we got a EURO Cup spot anyway though, so no harm done.

18you Jock topscorer with 21 goals. The old goalie manager retired at the end of the seasons 36yo to focus on his coaching job.

retired_elcrabtree

That was Stevenage in 1998. And not quite wives and a few dogs, we were getting crowds of 3000 regularly then
We lost the replay 2-1